Eclectic commentary from a progressive voice in the reddest part of the red state

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

New City People Means New Lame Excuses

Although I was a little snide, the substance of what City Councilor Brian Eades wrote is important. Click Read More to see how he claims new personnel and councilors are part of the problem.

Brian,

As I got out of the car yesterday morning after dropping my
wife off at a sub job, I thought I got a whiff of the smell of cattle money. I
didn’t detect a breeze, so I was mystified why the odor was so strong. Then I
read your email and realized the smell was coming from that.

For someone who has repeatedly sat on the dais and said he
makes public policy on the basis of facts and evidence, your pattern of behavior,
support of the downtown plan and Wallace Bajjali betrays your principles. And
that’s a fact.

Now, let’s address some of your comments.

· “Since that time, we have a new city manager, new mayor
and all new city council members technically except for me.” — The “new” city
manager was a long-time city employee and well in the loop about the downtown
planning. If he wasn’t in the loop, your oversight of the city management is
flawed because, as assistant manager, Jarrett should have been in the loop. A
“new” mayor is equally fallacious. Paul has been part of the City Council
before. He was well aware of the City Council issues and activities. And the
same goes for other councilors. Jim Simms can’t be consider as new. Ron Boyd
had been on the commission for years. Ellen was active on the Traffic
Commission. Verdict: Spin failure due to your bad information or lack of
understanding.

· “We have a new hotel developer, a new TIRZ chair, a new
Center City president, a local government corporation and a new DAI executive
director.” — The NewCrestImage people are not new. They did the Fisk Building,
despite Melissa Dailey’s attempt to undercut them. The “new” TIRZ chair was on
the TIRZ board so he wasn’t “new;” and he is a prominent lawyer in town and did
the legal framework for TIRZ and Downtown Amarillo Inc. The Center city
president came from within its own board, so he wasn’t new either. The new LGC
board was made up of veteran city people, council members and others who have
long been deeply involved with city public policy in one form or the other. You
helped appoint them. If they were too new to do the job right, you shouldn’t
have. And the DAI executive director? A third-rate or fourth-rate
transportation planner who had no broad experience in major planning issues.
Verdict: Spin failure due to your bad information or lack of understanding.

· “We have a new traffic engineer and even a new animal
control director etc.” — Yep, sure do. Verdict: Irrelevant for downtown
planning but emblematic of the City Council’s incompetent oversight of city
functions.